The Captive King

by Susan Copperfield

  “I’m not awake enough for this conversation,” I admitted.

  “I’d just like to know how you always manage to time your tub adventures for when I’m starting to get somewhere with work. Are you watching me, waiting for the perfect moment so you can sneak in here?” He chuckled, stepping into the bathroom to sit on the tub’s ledge. “Are you hungry?”

  I could hear my stomach over the jets, and my face flushed. “Maybe a little.”

  “And what would my queen like for dinner?”

  I needed more time than I had to think about what it meant for me to be the queen of anything. I’d need an entire lifetime to get used to the idea of anyone wanting me as his queen. “I think you need to see my doctors.”

  He scowled. “You’re doing it again.”

  “I’m just saying that any man who thinks making me a queen of anything is a good idea may want to have his head examined.” I relaxed against the tub’s slope, wiggling my toes in the water. “Haven’t I wrecked your kingdom enough already?”

  “It needed wrecking. You did what I should’ve done long ago. No, I’m grateful. Your actions proved I was right. When I first saw you, I wondered what it’d be like to have someone in my life capable of turning everything upside down. Then you treated our debate like a battle and a game all at once. You have a sense of humor. You saw me for me, not for my rank, my wealth, or any of it.”

  “I still need to tip your tailor.”

  He sighed. “I refuse to believe you just want me for my ass.”

  “It’s a spectacular ass. Your tailor treats it so well.” I patted the surface of the bubbles in invitation. “You could come join me. I’ve determined this tub is big enough for two.”

  “You talked me into joining you five times yesterday so you could nap on me. I’ve taken three baths already today. I’m clean, Summer. I’m really clean. Take mercy on me this once.”

  I pouted, as I had no memory of sharing a bath with him at all. “It doesn’t count if I don’t remember it.”

  “That’s the same argument that got me into the tub the past few times.”

  “It’s a great argument. I’m so proud of my drugged self. She knows what she’s doing. You tricked me into marrying you, so you have to get into the tub with me. I’ll probably take a nap, because this water is really warm and feels really nice. Also, drugged me shouldn’t wear a bra to bed. It’s not needed. Stop me from putting my bra on when I get out this time. Also, I need a hundred of those bras. Those are great.”

  “As we’ve already had this conversation several times already with only slight modification, you got mad at me when I tried to take your new bra away. In fact, you smacked me with it until I surrendered—after you asked me to stop you from putting your bra on after you got out of the tub. I don’t want to be beaten with a bra again today. Please.”

  “I guess I can wear the bra, then. I’m sorry.”

  “I’m going to have to start wearing a sign. You have nothing to be sorry for. I’m the one who’s sorry.”

  I frowned. “Why’re you sorry?”

  “I almost got you killed.”

  “Oh, please. You did not almost get me killed. That was the work of vengeful ghosts. You’re not a vengeful ghost. I guess you can take some of the blame for those asshole scum perverts. Yeah. You can take the blame for those, but you’re fixing it. Your punishment is putting up with me. It’s enough I almost feel sorry for you. I have more reasons to be sorry than you do. Because of the necklace, two of your friends died.”

  “I refuse to acknowledge the necklace had anything to do with the plane crash despite evidence it may have had something to do with the crash.” Landen sighed, reached over, and stroked my cheek. “You’re not responsible. I decided to buy the necklace, which I’m keeping to study. As intelligent, beautiful women become bored easily, I’m going to give it to you to research while we try to figure out if there’s some form of magic at play. If there is, we’ll find a way to break it.”

  I lifted my arm and regarded the obsidian wrapped around my wrist. “I still have these damned things, too.”

  “You do. They’re extremely durable, too. They look like obsidian, but diamond doesn’t even scratch them. More magic.”

  “Curse,” I corrected. “This is definitely curse territory.”

  “You might be able to convince me it’s a curse with the right argument.”

  “I’m definitely feeling cursed.”

  “Everything’s going to work out, Summer. I promise.”

  Since I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, I didn’t suggest he shouldn’t make promises he couldn’t keep. Instead, I grabbed a fistful of his suit jacket and pulled. “Come in willingly, or be pulled in, you.”

  “You wouldn’t pull me—”

  Like hell I wouldn’t. I yanked as hard as I could.

  He didn’t budge, not even an inch.

  “Okay, let me rephrase that. You’ll try to pull me in, but it won’t work.”

  “Stop cheating,” I ordered.

  “I’ll ruin my suit.”

  “Get naked and get in the tub, then you won’t ruin your suit.”

  “I’m really not going to win this, am I?”

  I shook my head. “Please?”

  Landen laughed. “All right, all right. How can I tell you no when you’re determined enough to say please?”

  “I might learn my manners one day, but I’m a New Yorker. We have problems with the basics.”

  “That’s okay. I love you anyway.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Headaches plagued me, but as I understood why I suffered from them, I didn’t complain. I lied, said I felt fine, and soldiered on so Landen wouldn’t worry even more about my health. The first few days I spent in Landen’s bed—that I could remember, at least—I saw him only when I took a bath and he came in to check on me.

  Those moments I treasured, as the pain subsided when he was around. I didn’t care why.

  He worked better than the drugs the doctors kept stuffing down my throat. Better still, sex wasn’t even involved.

  He was too nice.

  There needed to be limits to his gentlemanly ways. I didn’t want a gentleman. I wanted a romp so enthusiastic we broke his headboard, a thick, carved wood affair depicting the Alaskan wilderness. The nicer he acted, the worse my desire to pounce him became.

  It was all his fault. He needed to stop being nice, understanding, and prone to babysitting me so I wouldn’t drown in the tub. Sometimes, he even showed up with my favorite foods, feeding me morsel by morsel so I wouldn’t take a nap.

  Until him, I had had no idea how much I enjoyed someone tucking me in.

  I also appreciated how he admired me, showing no sign of caring some of the cinnabar rashes had scarred.

  His insistence on being a gentleman thwarted me at every turn. How were we going to break the headboard if he wouldn’t come to bed? The retinue of doctors determined to annoy me into good health were already looking for ways to make me exercise. Romping in bed was exercise.

  It wasn’t the type of exercise they wanted me doing, but progress was progress. Maybe they’d convince me to run on a treadmill with electrodes taped to me sometime after I did some scientific studying about whether a good roll in the hay cured headaches.

  Maybe if we were energetic enough, we could dislodge the rest of the cinnabar cluster so it could be removed. I saw no downsides to my homegrown treatment method. I thought it far superior to the cocktail of little pills meant to keep my condition from deteriorating until someone figured out how to get rid of the cinnabar doing its best to kill me.

  I loved what I did, I loved the work, I loved digging in the dirt, and I loved chasing after lost knowledge, but I’d found my limit.

  I didn’t love it enough to die for it anymore.

  I didn’t love it enough to give up any hope of a real lifetime with Landen, one that ended with us as old and wrinkled as the Nahua woman who sometimes haunted my dreams.

  When
ever she showed up, she laughed at me, and I wasn’t sure why. I had no memory of us speaking, but along the way, she became less of an old crone and more of a wizened grandmother, wiser than even her years and holding back some pearl of insight so I might learn on my own, much like a fledgling learns when kicked from the nest and expected to fly.

  There was a lot of falling involved when learning how to fly.

  Flying seemed easier than becoming a queen. I hadn’t even managed to leave the bedroom yet, and I wasn’t sure I’d be up for the job. I didn’t have a single clue what a queen did. What happened when a queen fell flat on her face?

  I’d find out. It was inevitable. The first time I lost my temper and flared, I’d likely either trip over my own feet or faint. It was a miracle I hadn’t done either when I’d busted my way into the king’s audience chamber.

  I still needed to fix his wall.

  I’d take care of the wall after I made an honest attempt to break his headboard. Since running a bath and failing to turn into a mermaid wasn’t getting the right type of attention from Landen, I needed to try something new—something involving a quarter.

  A quarter would send the appropriate message. Did Alaska even have quarters? I hoped so.

  If Alaska didn’t have quarters, my first act as his queen would be the introduction of quarters, and I’d take the very first one minted and use it wisely.

  I prowled the bedroom, investigating every nook and cranny for a quarter.

  I didn’t find anything, not even a penny. I did find an alarm clock beside the bed, which informed me it was nine. At night. In the sitting room, I could hear the soft murmur of voices through the closed door; the one time a heated argument had broken out, Landen had threatened death on anyone who woke me in the sort of tone promising a swift execution.

  I was tired of being tired. I was tired of being treated like fragile glass. Landen wasn’t wrong to tread with care, which annoyed me even more.

  Being a good patient wasn’t one of my strengths.

  Maybe one of the people bothering Landen would have a quarter. I grabbed Landen’s bathrobe to wear over my pajamas and tiptoed to the door, cracking it open so I could peek into the sitting room without alerting anyone to my presence.

  Landen sat on the couch, surrounded by a herd of people. I recognized Elise, who’d exchanged her formfitting shirt for a comfortable sweater and a pair of slacks. Unlike my first meeting with her, she smiled and seemed relaxed.

  She was the one doing most of the talking, pointing at a folder Landen held, which he shared with a tall, dark-haired man sitting behind him.

  I loved Landen, but I couldn’t help but stare at the man seated with him. Everything about him was perfect, from his short, ruffled hair to his suit, which seemed immune to wrinkles. The hair was a problem, tousled enough my fingers itched to take a comb to it.

  Landen’s needed some of my attention, too, although I suspected he’d spent an unfortunate amount of time running his hands through his hair and tugging from frustration.

  He needed some vigorous time in bed with me as much as I needed it. Maybe I had no idea how to handle being a queen, but I could figure out a few key points on being a wife, and it involved breaking that damned headboard.

  The rest of the gathered crowd were men, and I recognized a few from the assembly chamber, although they were all younger. The older ones shifted their weight from foot to foot while Elise talked.

  It didn’t take long for me to understand why.

  I’d been blunt enough women had been raped. She gave details of specific assaults, and she made no effort to hide her disgust and anger. Her fear had evaporated, but I wondered how much of that had to do with Landen.

  He made me feel safe, too.

  The older, nervous men bothered me enough I opened the door a little wider and said, “Do you need rescued, Landen? It looks like there’s a ghoulish congregation here attempting to bring you into the fold.”

  Maybe I should’ve been a bit nicer about how I’d phrased my offer.

  Landen jerked his head up, stared at me, and burst into laughter. “Summer, what are you doing?”

  “Are there quarters in this kingdom?”

  Landen grinned, covered it with a cough, and cleared his throat. “Alaska has quarters.”

  “I need a quarter, and I need you to nicely remove your guests from your suite.” I leaned into the room, narrowing my eyes so Landen understood I meant business. “It is nine in the evening, I need a quarter, and your guests need to come back in the morning. An appropriate time is no earlier than ten, as I will rearrange your castle and blockade the door if anyone attempts to wake either of us up before ten. I recommend they come back after lunch, really. After lunch would be better.” I waved at Elise. “Good evening, Elise.”

  She smiled at me.

  The woman needed to lower her brilliancy down a few notches before I went blind or developed a serious case of overprotectiveness. I hated she’d been picked for her looks, but I couldn’t deny her beauty, and when she smiled, she made the pretty man seated by Landen pale in comparison.

  Damn it. Was I doomed to spend the rest of my life surrounded by pretty people?

  “Please don’t destroy my palace, Summer.”

  Laden was definitely laughing at me. I could hear his amusement in his voice.

  “Then they need to leave.”

  “This work is important.”

  “Elise? Is the work so important it can’t wait until after lunch tomorrow?”

  “It can wait until after lunch tomorrow. His Majesty neglected to have dinner, as he skipped directly into a meeting while the rest of us were on break. I’ll send word to the kitchen to bring something up for you both.”

  “I don’t care what anyone else says, but I’m hiring you out from under Landen. Thank you.”

  Her smile brightened. “You’re welcome.”

  “Your guests, Landen, if you’d please.”

  He sighed, but his smile betrayed him. “I’m sorry. As I expect I’ll be required to have lunch to go along with breakfast, let’s reconvene at one to settle this and decide how to proceed.”

  “I’ll expect you to have dinner tomorrow, too. At a reasonable time, Your Majesty.”

  “You’re not going to give me an inch on this, are you?”

  “I’m giving you five minutes to politely evict your guests from our room. Then we’re going to break your headboard.”

  Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned that part. I flushed at my loose tongue.

  Landen coughed, and the pretty man beside him grinned. “Landen, resuming this at one seems like a wise idea. When the ladies openly discuss breaking things where others can hear, it’s time to take note. I wish you the best of luck this evening.”

  The pretty man bowed to me with a flourish.

  What the hell was I supposed to do? Since when did men bow to me? I couldn’t deal with the bowing. I pointed at the door and snapped my fingers. “Thank you, but please get out.”

  “Tomorrow, then, before she decides to break my headboard with my head. Call me if—”

  “Unless the sky is falling, the world is about to end, and people are about to die, you won’t call him.”

  The pretty man in his perfect suit had a laugh capable of melting stone, I was certain of it. “No one will bother you this evening unless it is a critical matter.”

  I decided I liked him. “Thank you.”

  It took longer than I liked for everyone to leave the room, but I waited patiently, careful to keep my mouth shut. After Landen said his goodbyes to the last of his guests and closed the door, he turned to face me. “While I’m relieved you’re feeling well enough to explore, I’m also concerned. What did my headboard do to offend you?”

  “It hasn’t offended me. We’re just going to be so energetic in bed it suffers from an unfortunate accident.” I pointed into the bedroom and snapped my fingers. “Not only will we break the headboard, we’ll be so rough we dislodge the cinnabar so I nev
er have to have another headache ever again.”

  Landen’s brows rose. “That headboard is over two inches thick.”

  “It’ll be a challenge.”

  “I’m not sure it’s possible.”

  “We’ll never know if we don’t try.” I checked my non-existent watch. “The only thing I have scheduled until one tomorrow afternoon is you. In fact, I have no plans for the next few days.”

  “You have several doctor appointments.”

  “Well, that’s a bummer.”

  “Necessary, however. The day after tomorrow, you have another procedure to see if they can remove more of the cinnabar.”

  “The day after tomorrow is going to suck.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Your punishment for raining on my parade is to help me break your headboard.”

  He smiled, closed the distance between us, and smiled. “Yes, ma’am.”

  We didn’t manage to break the headboard, much to my disappointment. When morning came, he was sound asleep, and he didn’t awaken when someone knocked at the door.

  I didn’t like that people came into our suite as they pleased, knocking on the bedroom door. Wearing only his robe, I crossed the room and cracked open the door.

  The man looked so much like Stanley Hauser I encased his feet in stone before I realized they weren’t the same man.

  To his credit, the castle floors attacking him didn’t seem to faze him in the slightest. “Good morning, Your Majesty. There’s a situation that needs to be addressed, and I’ve already cleared it with His Majesty of Montana. I’m very sorry to bother you.”

  I stared at his feet, which had been eaten by stone. “I’m sorry about your feet.”

  He smiled. “It’s quite all right, Your Majesty. It’s not the first time my shoes have gotten the attention of the floors this week. Isn’t it curious how the stone seems to have acquired a mind of its own?”